IJ Iti ;i I avi 4-1 ìnews
W est S ide S tory
Young activist encourages community members
to get involved in the planning process by T om Stev en son
Schedule your appointment
today with:
of Portland, inc.
hen the Portland
City Council meets
Sept. 26 to discuss
the future of the
West End, a num
ber of people will he watching, includ
ing a young activist who has been
feverishly involved in the project for
several years.
Jacob Brostoff, 26, became inter
ested for a number of reasons. Part of
it is his inherently activist personali
ty. Part of it has to do with his profes
sional interests. And part of it has to
do with the fact that he is a member
of Portland’s gay community, which
could see the Burnside Triangle
change dramatically in the coming
years.
For all of those reasons— and many
more— Brostoff is not only actively
helping shape the future of the West
End, he also is encouraging other sex
ual minorities to get involved.
“This neighborhood matters to our
community as well as to residents of Jacob Brostoff says his mother, Phyllis Mensh Brostoff,
affordable housing and to small busi raised him in a progressive political environment
nesses,” he says. “We have an obligation as a
concern about the West End also because of the
community to ensure our visibility in the city
professional and personal ethics he adheres to.
and to make things better for the next genera
“As a professional city planner, 1 have an
tion of queers. Community planning happens
ethical obligation to ensure that all groups that
when communities make it happen; communi are affected by planning decisions understand
ties get political power by demanding it. If you
the implications of those decisions and can
chcxise silence, do not expect anyone to speak
make their voices heard,” he says. “As a queer,
my community’s visibility is very important to
for you."
Brostoff says a “perfect” West End planning
me. Visibility comes in many forms, including
personal visibility as well as geographic visibili
process would recognize and build upon the
many assets the area already has. Among those
ty. My concerns about the West End and the
Burnside Triangle stem from the intersection of
assets, he notes, is a “strong, safe and visible sex
my professional and personal obligations: the
ual minority presence.”
Brostoff’s passion regarding the project
professional obligation to he an ethical planner
ignited in part because of his professional
and the personal obligation to ensure the safety,
background, which includes city planning.
health and visibility of my community.”
He is the transportation advocate at 1000
Brostoff says when he first examined the
Friends o f Oregon, hut he previously served as
West End proposals, he quickly realized some
a planning assistant with the city o f St.
members of the community were definitely not
Helens, working through the Resource A ssis heard from in the planning prcxress, including
tance for Rural Environments Am criCorps
the pmr, the homeless and sexual minorities.
program out of University o f Oregon. He also
“The West End is a place that showcases Port
served as a staff assistant with the city o f Port
land’s diversity and has important historical sig
land Office of Transportation and as an intern
nificance to sexual minorities,” he adds.
for Portland City Com m issioner Jim Fran-
Keeping the West End at least partially
cesconi. O n top o f all that, he is finishing his
intact is an important issue for the gay and les
master’s degree in urban and regional plan bian community for a number of reasons,
according to Brostoff. Among the functions he
ning at Portland State University.
believes the neighborhoxxJ serves:
Brostoff’s activism goes even further hack.
• Providing a safe place for gay men and les
He was raised in Wisconsin and grew up in a
bians to congregate, with a strong community
“very political environment, surrounded by
Midwestern Catholics, Protestants and Jews
policing presence.
who were active in the labor movement and
• Providing a place for questioning and clos
politics, starting with civil rights-in the 1960s.”
eted people to he around others and explore the
“I remember licking envelopes with the
visible community.
father of the current mayor of Milwaukee during
• Providing examples of successful longtime
gay-owned businesses.
the mayoral campaign and hearing stories about
how this Norwegian Lutheran minister was
That all could change, which is why Brostoff
beaten and jailed marching in the South,” he
is encouraging everyone who thinks the issue
matters to make their voices heard.
says. “My parents had lots of stories about living
in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, being on the
The P ortland C ity C ouncil will meet 2 p.m.
Mall during the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and
Sept. 26 at 1221 S.W. Fourth Ave. To testify call
watching the city hum from the rooftop of their
503-823-4082, fax 503-823-4571 or send e-mail
apartment building in Dupont Circle. I grew up
to kmoore-Ln>e@ci.Portland.or.us.
being among the first generation of kids to he
bused to integrated schw ls in a city deeply
T om STEVENSON is a Portland free-lance writer
divided by race and class. All of this made quite
and a full-time Porthnd State University student
an impression on me.”
Tcxlay, Brostoff says he has a great deal of u'ho can be reached at ruralunn@yahoo.com.
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